Seoul appeals court to rule on Yoon election law case on November 4

The Seoul High Court was set to rule on November 4, 2026, in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's election law violation case, Yonhap reported.

The hearing was scheduled for 2 p.m. and was to be televised live. The case concerns allegations that Yoon made false statements as a People Power Party presidential candidate before his March 2022 election. A district court found him guilty in July and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years.

Under the election law, the state fully reimburses parties for campaign spending when a candidate wins at least 15 percent of the vote. A party must return all reimbursed funds if its candidate receives a finalized prison sentence or a fine of at least 1 million won for an election law violation. If the sentence is finalized, Yoon's election would be nullified and the PPP would have to return 39.7 billion won ($29.5 million).

Yoon was charged with falsely claiming at a December 2021 press event that he had not introduced a lawyer to a former tax official who was the brother of a close associate. He also faces charges of lying in a January 2022 interview by saying a party official had introduced him to shaman Jeon Seong-bae while denying that he and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, had met Jeon together.

The jailed former president has faced multiple criminal trials since his failed bid to impose martial law in December 2024 and his ouster from office. A district court sentenced him to life in prison in February 2026 for leading an insurrection through the martial law bid, a case under appellate review.